Dive Brief:
- The board of education in Hamilton County, TN, voted 8-1 Thursday to sue the state over its district funding formula.
- Multiple districts within the state are struggling to purchase basic needs like toilet paper, leading to the decision to sue over the Basic Education Program (BEP) that determines how state education funds are allocated.
- Previously, three districts have sued the state and been successful, but this is the first time big districts are getting in on the action, with Polk, Bradley, Marion, Coffee, Grundy, and McMinn also suing or considering doing so.
Dive Insight:
Teacher pay and health insurance are other line items that these districts are struggling to pay for because of budget shortcomings, which Hamilton County Schools estimates to be about $13 million for its large district. Budget deficits and cash-strapped schools have become a common subject nationally, with Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois among other states where this conversation comes up often. It feels important to point out that budget issues are one of the "crisis" issues that states announce before closing schools, taking them over with state-run districts, and/or pushing more charter schools in. Tennessee, for example, has its statewide Achievement School District. One theory that has come up is whether or not this national school budget crisis is in fact real, or rather a created problem that gives states the excuse to step in and privatize.
Tennessee is also not the first state to be sued over its funding formula. In November, a number of Pennsylvania school districts, parents, and the state's NAACP filed a lawsuit against former Gov. Tom Corbett, as well as state education officials and legislative leaders, alleging that Pennsylvania violated its state constitution by failing to provide adequate education for its students.